John H. Johnson
Businessman & Publisher , 1918–2005
John Johnson grew up in a poor, rural community in Arkansas. He had such a love for learning he repeated the eighth grade instead of discontinuing his education since there were no public high schools for African-Americans in his community. When his family moved to Chicago, he was finally able to continue his education. After graduation, Johnson worked at the Supreme Life Insurance Company to earn money for college. His duties included preparing a monthly digest of newspaper articles. That job inspired him to create his own African-American publications. Johnson created a variety of magazines but none of them achieved as much success as Ebony magazine. Ebony was the African-American version of Life magazine. Since its creation in 1945, the magazine addressed African-American issues, personalities and interests in a positive and self-affirming manner. Ebony made Johnson one of the richest individuals in the United States. In 1972, he was named publisher of the year by the major magazine publishers in the United States. Johnson expanded his business interests to areas. He developed a line of cosmetics called Fashion Fair, (the world's number one makeup and skin care company for women of color) purchased three radio stations, started a book publishing company, a television production company and he produced the Ebony Fashion Fair (the world's largest traveling fashion show) which has donated over $47 million to charity. Johnson’s prominence in the African- American community led to several special government appointments including trips with Vice President Nixon to Africa in 1957 and later to Russia and Poland in 1959. In 1970, President Nixon appointed him as a member to the President's Commission for the Observance of the 25th Anniversary of the United Nations. In 1982, he became the first African-American to appear on the Forbes 400.
In December 2008, Google scanned back issues of Ebony magazine; currently, all issues from November 1959 to December 2008 are available for free: http://books.google.com/books?id=r9QDAAAAMBAJ
